Segments in Google Analytics

Ziad Ismail
6 min readOct 18, 2020

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how to segment in GA.

Photo by CHUTTERSNAP on Unsplash

The Journey with “Digital Analytics Minidegree” on CXL Institute is Continue and this is 4th Post.

Are you want to find out a way to create segments in Google Analytics? Having Segments of site data meaning the foremost to you’ll facilitate the improvement of your business, drive more leads, and convert more customers.

What is a Google Analytics Segment?

As with traditional customer segments in marketing, in Google Analytics, segments group visitors who share common characteristics. There are many characteristics of tourists that are collected by default by Google Analytics, from details about their browsers and screen sizes to the sites that they’re available from and so the types of pages they view.

ten recommended segments for Google Analytics

The ten segments for Google Analytics I favor to recommend using, in rough order useful to marketers, are:
1. Segmentation by Referrer / Traffic source
2. Segmentation by Visitor Type
3. Segmentation by Location / Geography
4. Segmentation by Content Viewed
5. Segmentation by Landing Page Type
6. Segmentation by Action taken
7. Segmentation by Value
8. Segmentation by Demographics.
9. Segmentation by Engagement
10. Segmentation by Technology platform
I’ve explained these in additional detail at the tip of this text.

Using segments in Google Analytics

Google Analytics provides great information on audience segments, but it requires a special way of observing segments and you want to grasp where to seem. The place to look is that the Advanced Segments menu option within the highest right of the reporting area. The examples above show how the standard or default segments are going to be presented to imply paid and non-paid search traffic.
As with traditional customer segments, in Google Analytics, segments group visitors who share common characteristics. There are many characteristics of tourists that are collected by default by Google Analytics, from details about their browsers and screen sizes to the sites that they’re available from and also the kinds of pages they view.

How to use Advanced Segments in Google Analytics

The first method of using segments in Google Analytics is to match the performance of segments.
For each segment you apply in Google Analytics, an additional row is added to your report which you’ll compare against performance for the total site and other segments.
Once you’ve applied the segment, voila! you’ll then review measures of volume, engagement, and value generated and compare these to other segments or the placement average to help determine why some segments are performing better than others.
You can also see a preference for particular sorts of content or products for visitors with different characteristics which is incredibly useful. as an example, first-time visitors tend to travel to the “About Us” plenty more, so maybe we’re not doing a good enough job of explaining our price proposition on the page or we must always work on improving the “About Us” to means our appeal?
The other because of use segments is to choose out one segment which then has the effect of filtering out all other visits in an exceedingly similar due to creating a replacement profile. for example, you’ll select one segment of the latest Visitors or Returning visitors to grasp their behavior. For returning visitors who return directly you will see which pages they’re possible to arrive on which they have bookmarked indicating popular content for returning visitors.

Segment types

A segment is created from one or more non-destructive filters (filters that do not alter the underlying data). Those filters isolate subsets of users, sessions, and hits:
Subsets of users: as an example, users who have previously purchased; users who added items to their shopping carts, but didn’t complete a procurement
Subsets of sessions: as an example, all sessions originating from Campaign A; all sessions during which a buying deal occurred
Subsets of hits: as an example, all hits during which revenue was greater than $10
You can include filters for users, sessions, and hits within the identical segment.
The Analytics user model illustrates how segments map to the Analytics data hierarchy:
Users: People interact together with your property (e.g., your website or app)
Sessions: Interactions by one user are grouped into sessions.
Hits: Interactions during a session are stated as hits. Hits include interactions like pageviews, events, and transactions.
Using segments
When you apply a segment and navigate through your reports, the segment remains active until you remove it. you’ll apply up to four segments at a time, and compare the separate data side by side in your reports.
In addition to analyzing data with segments, you’ll use them to make audiences.
Analytics includes predefined segments (System Segments) that you just can use as provided, or that you just can copy and edit to create new custom segments. you’ll also build your own segments from scratch. additionally, you’ll import segments from the Analytics Solutions Gallery, a free marketplace where Analytics users share segments and other solutions they’ve developed.

Segment definition and scope

You base segments on the scale and metrics in your Analytics reports; for instance:
User Type exactly matches “Returning User”
Country/Territory exactly matches “The United States”
Ecommerce Conversion Rate > “0.2%”
In addition to identifying the dimensions and metrics for individual filters during a very segment, you’ll also set the scope of the data for a filter. There are three different scopes you’ll use:
Hit: Behavior confined to at least one action, as an example, viewing a page or starting a video.
Session: Behavior within one session; for example, the goals that users completed during a session, or the number of revenue they generated during a session.
User: Behavior across all sessions within the date range you’re using, up to 90 days; as an example all the goals users completed or all the revenue they generated (across all sessions) during the date range.
You use the segment builder to define the component filters of a segment.
Limits on segments
Segments that you simply just create or import are subject to the following limits:
Total segments
1000 per user for segments that will be applied/edited in any view (Segment availability: I can apply/edit Segment in any view).
100 per user per view for segments that can be applied/edited only by that user during this view (Segment availability: I can apply/edit Segment during this view).
100 per view for segments during this is applied/edited by all users therein view (Segment availability: Collaborators which I can apply/edit Segment during this view).
For example:
A user can have:
1000 segments which can be applied/edited in any view, plus
100 segments which will be applied/edited only by that user in mere View A, plus
100 segments that will be applied/edited only by that user in precisely View B
A view can have:
100 segments per user which will be applied/edited only by that user therein view
100 segments which can be applied/edited by any user in only that view
You cannot create or import additional segments once you reach these limits.
These limits don’t apply to system segments.
Segments applied to reports
You can have up to 4 segments applied to your reports at anybody time.
Date ranges
With user-based segments, you will be able to apply a maximum date range of 90 days to your reports. If your date range is already set to over 90 days, then once you create a user-based segment, Analytics resets the date range to 90 days from the start date.
Segments supported the Date of First Session option are limited to a maximum range of 31 days.

Let’s Dive in the Resources:

How to use (Advanced) Segments in Google Analytics.

About segments.

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Ziad Ismail
Ziad Ismail

Written by Ziad Ismail

Front End Developer and Digital Analyst.

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